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TTTTo5~ 

Cliap.-Copyright No._ 

Shelf...: _B_7 5 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





















« 




























































THE RETURN TO 
CHRIST 


LC Control Number 



tmp 96 025541 















The Return to Christ 


i/By 

Amory H. Bradford, D.D. 

Author of 

Spirit and Life , The Pilgrim in Old England, Heredity 
and Christian Problems, The Growing Revelation, 
The Art of Living Alone , 
etc. 


¥ 


New York 

Dodd, Mead and Company 

1900 


1 






51611 


)_Jt3Wsv: $ ot Ocmy r^8» 

' LjHU HK'r -tO 

» SEP 25 1900 

Copyright ontry 

s :?^3"0 

SECOND COPY. 

Dfclivfcierf to 

OKOtfi DIVISION, 

OCT 22 1900 


/E.'tf 


Copyright, 1900, 

By Dodd, Mead and Company 



UNIVERSITY PRESS * JOHN WILSON 
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 














Contents 

PAGE 

The Return to Christ in Theology ii 

The Return to Christ in Ethical 

and Spiritual Ideals .... 51 

The Return to Christ in Social 

Ideals.83 

The Return to Christ in Ideals of 
the Kingdom of God and Meth¬ 
ods BY WHICH IT IS TO BE AD¬ 
VANCED .119 
















The Return to Christ 
In Theology 




The Return to Christ 
In Theology 

T HE most wonderful move¬ 
ments in history seem to 
be instantaneous, but in reality 
they are results of long and silent 
processes. We are in the midst 
of such a movement in our time. 
It is worthy of our attention. It 
often happens that men do not 
understand the meaning of near 
events, and little appreciate the 
greatness of scenes in which they 
play conspicuous parts. The 
phrase cc the return to Christ ” 
may have a strange sound to those 


The Return to Christ 


who have long confused belief in 
something about the Master with 
personal faith and loyalty to Him. 
After His resurrection Christ was 
further revealed to those who be¬ 
fore had believed on Him. He 
was first recognized by Mary ; 
then by some of the disciples; 
later He was seen of above five 
hundred brethren at once: as it 
was understood that His life in 
the spirit was more real and vital 
than it had been in the flesh, the 
number to whom He appeared 
increased. For a time He seemed 
near His people ; and they real¬ 
ized that His bodily absence did 
not mean absence from the world. 
More intensely alive than before, 
He drew men unto Himself and 


The Return to Christ 


lived again in the splendid courage 
of Stephen, the dauntless heroism 
of Paul, the prophetic spirit of the 
beloved disciple, and in hundreds 
of others, who by faith received 
His message and rejoiced in His 
teaching. The Apostolic age was 
distinguished by a consciousness 
of the presence of the living 
Christ: but as time passed, and 
organization took the place of 
dependence on the Spirit; as 
church, creed, priest, altar, and 
ritual crowded out the simplicity 
of that early worship and that 
beautiful brotherhood, the vision 
became indistinct, and that which 
had been the life and glory of the 
first century was buried beneath 
the institutionalism and formalism 


*3 


The Return to Christ 


of the second. At different pe¬ 
riods there were revivals of in¬ 
terest in the teaching and methods 
of Jesus, but the passion to press 
infinite and eternal truths into 
narrow and unelastic forms again 
crowded out Christ, and the creed 
and the Church were allowed to 
usurp His place. Eighteen cen¬ 
turies have passed and now many 
who bear the Christian name are 
returning to Him with a loyalty 
and enthusiasm unsurpassed even 
by those who sought martyrdom 
in the first century. Principal 
Fairbairn says: “The most dis¬ 
tinctive and determinative element 
in modern theology is what we 
may term a new feeling for Christ. 
But we feel him more in our the- 


14 


The Return to Christ 


ology because we know him bet¬ 
ter in history. ... It is certainly 
not too much to say he is to-day 
more studied and better known, 
as he was and as he lived, than 
at any period between now and 
the first age of the Church. We 
feel his personal presence in all 
our thinking more in the manner 
of the apostolic than of any other 
age, and so we are being forced 
to come to the theology of the 
schools and the conventions of 
the churches through him, rather 
than to him through these.” 1 
The Oxford Professor has made 
the governing principle of his work 
“ the consciousness of Christ.” 

1 The Place of Christ in Modern The¬ 
ology, p. 3. 


i5 


The Return to Christ 


He holds that the only true way 
to study theology is to approach 
God and His relation to man and 
the universe by first entering into 
“ the consciousness of Christ.” 
The predominant school of theol¬ 
ogy in Germany is the Ritschlian. 
Its chief exponent, Professor Her¬ 
mann, teaches that the only way 
in which it is possible to know 
God is by first entering into an 
appreciation of “ the inner life of 
Christ.” 1 

Let us consider some of the 
ways in which the return to Christ 
is manifested in the theological 
thinking of our time. 

Religious thought in all civil¬ 
ized lands is centring about the 

1 Communion with God, p. 29. 

16 


The Return to Christ 

person of our Lord. It is occu¬ 
pied chiefly with two questions : 
first, with the biography of Jesus 
while He was upon the earth; and, 
second, with the work which He 
has been doing since He left the 
earth. It is not long since almost 
all religious instruction in English 
speaking lands was in the terms 
of the Westminster Catechism, or 
of some similar work, which did 
not profess to be an interpretation 
of the teachings of Christ, but 
rather a condensation of Christian 
theology. Children were brought 
up on speculations concerning 
fathomless mysteries, and forced 
to commit to memory pages of 
answers which neither they nor 
their parents understood. Now 

2 17 


The Return to Christ 

the text-book for Sunday-Schools, 
and other schools which have a 
place for such courses in their cur¬ 
riculum, is the New Testament. 
That is selected not because of its 
lofty ethics or profound philos¬ 
ophy, but because in it we are 
brought face to face with the 
great Teacher. 

A minister’s library is eloquent 
concerning the new place of Christ 
in modern thinking. Formerly 
such libraries were filled with 
dreary tomes of speculation con¬ 
cerning Infinity and Eternity. 
Our fathers read Edwards and 
Emmons and Hopkins, — mighty 
men they were in speculation and 
logic,— but now in the libraries of 
all homes, and still more in those 
18 


The Return to Christ 

of ministers, are found works on 
the life of our Lord, and histories 
of the process by which He has 
been growing into the civilization 
of the world. A glance at the 
shelves of any minister's working 
library will make this clear. The 
“ Higher Criticism,” has not yet 
given as much attention to the 
New Testament as to the Old, 
but it is studying the Gospels, as 
it has already studied the Pro¬ 
phets, and every month there 
appears some new work on our 
Lord's life and the books in which 
it is recorded. In theological 
seminaries the first place is now 
seldom given to Speculative The¬ 
ology. What is called Biblical, 
or New Testament, Theology has 
r 9 


The Return to Christ 


taken its place. When a chair of 
Philosophical Theology is vacant 
it is difficult to find men qualified 
to fill it. There are many candi¬ 
dates for chairs of Biblical Theol¬ 
ogy, but few are willing to accept 
that of Systematic Theology. The 
professor of Systematic Theology 
approaches the facts of religion 
along the lines of speculation. 
He tries to adjust and harmonize 
the truths of the Divine revelation 
in the Scriptures with similar 
revelations in the nature of man 
and the universe. The Biblical 
theologian, on the other hand, 
asks but one question: “ What 
did this Book mean when it was 
written ? ” To answer this, he 
must learn to whom it was written, 


20 


The Return to Christ 

why it was written, when it was 
written, and, if possible, by whom 
it was written. The number of 
scholars in this department is 
rapidly increasing. They do not 
inquire what others have thought 
of Jesus, but seek rather to separ¬ 
ate the facts about Him from the 
tradition, superstition, and mis¬ 
understanding which have grown 
up around Him, so that He may 
appear in our time as when He 
walked the hills and valleys of 
Judea, healing diseases, forgiving 
sins, and preaching the gospel to 
the poor. Christian scholarship is 
studying the person of Christ with 
a zeal and unanimity before un¬ 
known. Principal Fairbairn was 
right; there has never been an 
21 


The Return to Christ 


age between the first century and 
the present in which it was pos¬ 
sible to see Christ so clearly and 
to understand His teachings so 
truly as now. Other centuries 
have been busy with seeking to 
justify the ways of God to men, 
and with trying to reconcile nat¬ 
ural and revealed religion; our 
age, on the other hand, is distin¬ 
guished by the attempt to set forth 
all that God has revealed, believ¬ 
ing that all of His revelations are 
harmonious, and that this will be 
seen when these revelations are 
understood. It may reasonably 
be asked if this movement has not 
gone far enough. In the enthusi¬ 
asm of personal loyalty to Jesus 
there is danger that the revelations 


The Return to Christ 


of God which are to be found in 
the universe and in the constitu¬ 
tion of man will be overlooked. 
This is the peculiar peril of Ritsch- 
lianism. The theologians of an 
earlier time were not altogether 
wrong in the emphasis which they 
placed on natural theology. It is 
possible even for “ the return to 
Christ ” to go too far. The final 
theology will give its proper place 
to all the messages of revelation, 
wherever, whenever, and however 
written. 

When we ask what Theology is 
teaching, “the return to Christ” 
is still more apparent. Our Lord 
dealt with truth in terms of life. 
He came as a brother to those 
who were heavy-hearted, crushed 

23 


The Return to Christ 


by tyranny, burdened with taxa¬ 
tion, in the midst of intellectual 
and spiritual darkness; to those 
who carried griefs which they 
could not explain; to a dreary, 
desolate age in which there was 
neither hope nor help for those 
who were asking wherefore they 
were born. The four Gospels are 
the most simple and natural books 
that ever were written ; they 
answer the every-day questions 
with the records of life-histories. 
Jesus walked among the common 
people as one of themselves. He 
tried to open their eyes so that 
they could see that there was a 
sure basis for hope. His language 
was simple, His speech direct, and 
every utterance easily understood. 


The Return to Christ 

When He would teach the people 
about God He told them of the 
Father; He likened Him to a 
shepherd, to a woman seeking, to 
a father yearning. He never tried 
to harmonize truths. He simply 
announced them, and left them to 
shine like stars in the darkness 
of human life. The truths which 
He spoke are their own best evi¬ 
dence. To-day we are ceasing to 
ask, What are the contents of cer¬ 
tain so-called Standards ? What 
did Calvin and Edwards and some¬ 
body else teach ? We care less 
for the authority of Councils, 
General Assemblies, Standards of 
doctrine, and external human 
authorities, and are taking our 
problems straight to the only One 

25 


The Return to Christ 


who can shed light upon them. 
In short, we are accepting the 
authority and adopting the method 
of Jesus. 

For hundreds of years theology 
was burdened with the thought 
that God is a King. There is 
much truth in the conception of 
the Divine sovereignty. He is 
the Sovereign; but what does 
sovereignty mean ? Men made 
the mistake of getting their idea 
of sovereignty from Oriental des¬ 
pots, instead of from the family. 
Therefore the Deity has been 
presented in ways which made 
Him appear to be a horrible 
tyrant, whom it would be impos¬ 
sible to love. He was a subli¬ 
mated Caesar, a celestial autocrat, 
26 


The Return to Christ 

an infinite Mikado ; He was 
pleased with the suffering of His 
children. He was represented in 
books as having created some of 
His children for the express pur¬ 
pose of visiting His wrath upon 
them in endless and cruel torture. 
He was described as one under no 
obligation to do anything for the 
salvation of sinners. That was 
the mediaeval way of thinking; it 
was not the Apostolic, and not 
the Christian way. In our time 
we are going back to our New 
Testaments, and learning that the 
Sovereign is the Father; that the 
Father rules the Sovereign, and not 
the Sovereign the Father ; that all 
history, all men, all time are in 
the hands of infinite and ever- 
27 


The Return to Christ 


lasting Love. We do not find 
that all the children of that Father 
are obedient. Our Lord recog¬ 
nized what we must, that many of 
them are living without conscious¬ 
ness of their sonship; but this is 
not, as formerly, allowed to obscure 
the primal relation between man 
and God. 

A part of the same change in 
thought is seen in the emphasis 
which was formerly placed on the 
Divine transcendence, but which is 
now placed on the Divine imma¬ 
nence. The mediaeval theologians 
gave no undue prominence to the 
power and majesty of the Deity, 
but they almost entirely neglected 
the fact that He pervades all things. 
It has required eighteen hundred 
28 


The Return to Christ 

years for the essential divinity of 
humanity to get the recognition in 
creeds that was given to it by Jesus. 
He identified the service of man 
with the service of God. He said 
that God dwelt in the weakest and 
poorest human creatures, and that 
a favor rendered to them was ren¬ 
dered to Him, while neglect of 
them was neglect of Him. That 
thought, for the first time in a 
thousand years, is finding a prom¬ 
inent place in Christian thinking. 
It is the dominant note in most 
modern theology. What is called 
cc progress in religion ” is but 
getting back to the oft repeated 
teaching of Jesus concerning the 
presence of God in the universe 
and in humanity. 

29 


The Return to Christ 


If I were asked what is doing 
more than anything else to glorify 
the life of our time, to create en¬ 
thusiasm in the service of human¬ 
ity, my answer would be, the new 
consciousness of the Divine Father¬ 
hood, which has come from think¬ 
ing of God in the terms of the 
revelation of Christ. All things 
cannot be working toward evil 
and the defeat of love if Father¬ 
hood is at the centre of the uni¬ 
verse. Multitudes turned from 
Christianity as it was presented in 
the Church and in creeds. They 
said, We cannot believe in a God 
more cruel, more unjust, and 
therefore more unlovable, than 
we are ourselves. They did not 
understand that their revolt was 


30 


The Return to Christ 


from the speculations of men, and 
not from the teaching of our Lord. 
The return to Him is disclosing 
a God whom to know is to adore. 
Whittier’s “ Eternal Goodness ” 
is the literary form of the modern 
conception of God, and it is dis¬ 
tinctly that of Christ. 

Far more like the method of 
Jesus is the teaching of the pres¬ 
ent day concerning what has in- 
felicitously been called “the plan 
of Salvation.” Let me remind 
my readers that I am not criticis¬ 
ing when I show what has been 
outgrown. I am simply remind¬ 
ing them that it has been out¬ 
grown. A man has outgrown the 
clothing of his childhood, but 
those clothes were best for that 


3 1 


The Return to Christ 

time. New studies, which were 
not possible sooner, have made it 
easy for scholars to learn what the 
mind of the Master really is. 

Not very long ago it was com¬ 
mon to speak of the saving work 
of Christ as if it had removed an 
obstacle in the way of God’s love, 
implying that God was able to 
save solely because Christ died; 
and that He would save only 
those who believed in the atoning 
sacrifice of His son. 

Since that view has been held 
by men of pre-eminent ability and 
piety, I must believe that it con¬ 
tains certain important elements 
of truth, but it does not suggest 
to me either the spirit or the 
words of Jesus. He spoke noth- 
32 


The Return to Christ 


ing about government, or law, or 
atonement. He spoke of the 
love of God, of the Good Shep¬ 
herd, of the Father welcoming the 
prodigal. His word to the sin¬ 
ning woman was, “ Go and sin no 
more.” To His disciples first 
He said, “ Follow me; ” and then 
He lived before them the divine 
life, and for parts of three years 
trained them by association with 
Himself, until they were new men. 
I do not mean to say that the 
judicial way of thinking upon this 
subject has altogether passed, but 
I am sure that there is an increas¬ 
ing number of teachers who insist 
that the way to become a Chris¬ 
tian is not by trying to believe 
assertions about the nature or 


3 


33 


The Return to Christ 

the government of God, but by 
endeavoring earnestly to follow 
Christ. Jesus said, “ I am the 
way;” therefore we say, “Follow 
Him.” Hesaid, “I am thetruth;” 
therefore we say, “ Trust Him.” 
He said, “ I am the life; ” there¬ 
fore we say, “ Get near to Him; 
and in some very real sense you 
will realize His life of holiness 
and love.” 

One class of thinkers has been 
in the habit of teaching that life is 
a probation, that however long 
people may live, and however 
favorably or unfavorably they 
may have been situated, their 
short existence in this world alone 
determines their everlasting des¬ 
tiny. In proof of this, numerous 
34 


The Return to Christ 

passages of the New Testament 
have been adduced. The ques¬ 
tion does not concern the persist¬ 
ently incorrigible, but those who 
have had no opportunity of feel¬ 
ing the influence of the strongest 
possible motive to repentance. 
But Christian teachers are now 
saying: No one will be con¬ 
demned until everything has been 
done for his salvation that pos¬ 
sibly could have been done. The 
highest motive to repentance is 
the love of God as seen in Jesus 
Christ. If there are any who 
never have had knowledge of that 
fact, and have therefore missed 
that motive in this world, — such 
as infants, idiots, and heathen, — 
they will have opportunity after 
35 


The Return to Christ 

death has released them from their 
present limitations. 

Whether correct or not, this 
theory represents an earnest effort 
to get back to the teachings of 
Christ. He taught that God so 
loved the world that He gave his 
only Son for its salvation ; and it 
is rightly asked, How can that be 
true when the great majority of 
the population of the world never 
have any opportunity of hearing 
the Saviours message? It would 
hardly be said that those who in¬ 
sist that all will be judged accord¬ 
ing to the light of nature are 
nearer to Christ than those who 
teach that all at last will be 
brought to this test: Having had 
a fair opportunity of seeing and 
36 


The Return to Christ 

accepting Jesus, are you willing to 
follow Him ? 

It would be idle to deny that 
the convictions of the Christian 
world as to the penalties of wrong¬ 
doing have drifted far from the 
common teaching of a generation 
ago. When even the most aus¬ 
tere are pressed for definite an¬ 
swers concerning their beliefs they 
qualify so carefully that little of 
the former doctrine is left, and in 
doing so they are influenced by 
two considerations, namely: the 
teachings of Jesus concerning the 
fatherhood of God, and the feel¬ 
ing that their former views were 
unjust both to God and man. 

This at least is beyond ques¬ 
tion : In proportion as theologi- 
37 


The Return to Christ 

cal thought has kept the words of 
Jesus at the front, the idea of pun¬ 
ishment has been less prominent, 
and that of discipline and salva¬ 
tion more prominent. The change 
in the thinking of evangelical 
Christians on this subject, in my 
opinion, is chiefly due to the in¬ 
crease of Biblical study, and espe¬ 
cially to that study which has been 
so largely focussed on the Four 
Gospels. 

One more illustration will help 
to a still better understanding of 
this radical revolution in Christian 
thinking. In the old time two 
doctrines largely dominated human 
thought. One was held by those 
who were not professing Christians, 
and was called Fatalism; the 
38 


The Return to Christ 

other was held by the Church and 
was called Sovereignty. The 
former taught that all events are 
pre-determined; that men are in 
a stream too strong to be resisted; 
that joy and sorrow, pleasure and 
pain, are alike apportioned to us; 
and all that any one can do is to 
bear what is sent and make the 
best of it until the end comes. 
That was the doctrine of the un¬ 
believing world ; it was also the 
doctrine of the Church, although 
in the Church it had a different 
name. There it was given the 
name of Sovereignty, or Decrees 
of Election. It may be condensed 
as follows : God is the Sovereign ; 
He can do as He pleases; human 
effort is of no account; sorrow and 
39 


The Return to Christ 


suffering are determined by the 
Almighty, and each man receives 
according to God's will without 
reference to merit or demerit. 
There is an element of truth in 
this idea, but its truthfulness was 
obscured when it was forgotten 
that the Sovereign is the Father. 
Consequently human life for the 
most of the world had no horizon; 
golden gates were lifted for a few 
only. The majority might well 
have said: cc Life is not worth 
living; we are by nature de¬ 
praved; we can do nothing." 

How different the human out¬ 
look is now ! The study of the 
teachings of the Master has 
brought a new and a brighter light 
into human life. It shows that 


40 


The Return to Christ 

the power to choose is not a fic¬ 
tion and that there is some object 
worth choice and effort to attain. 
His story has been read until its 
music has gladdened the hearts of 
millions who before were hopeless. 
That story has assured men that 
they were created for blessing, not 
for cursing; that in every human 
creature is something of God; 
that not a sparrow falls without 
the Father; that all things work 
for good to those who obey Him. 
In the Gospels the Power that 
rules the world is revealed in a 
gracious Elder Brother, a Great 
Physician, One who will ask men 
at the last, what they have done 
for the weak, the poor, and the 
suffering, whether they have helped 
41 


The Return to Christ 


to lessen the pain of the world and 
to scatter its darkness, and not 
whether they have professed ac¬ 
ceptance of doctrines which their 
minds could not believe, or per¬ 
formed services in which their 
hearts could not participate. The 
brightness has come from getting 
back to Christ. The optimism 
which pervades literature is direct 
from Him. Those who live much 
with Him are seldom discouraged. 
A new and blessed hope thrills in 
the utterance of the world’s greatest 
preachers. There was more terror 
in the old days when revivals 
swept over the lands, but there 
was little of the gladness and 
triumph which is common now. 
The theme of the pulpit now is 
42 


The Return to Christ 

Christ and His Cross. Formerly 
we heard more of the doom of the 
sinner; now we hear more of 
what it is man’s privilege to be¬ 
come. In our churches and chari¬ 
ties we teach that the same voice 
that spoke “ Peace on earth and 
good-will toward men ” is still 
speaking of “ peace and good-will,” 
in sweeter accents, and with more 
persuasive effect. To know that 
it does make a difference how we 
live; that no one is so utterly 
alone that God does not care for 
him ; that no sorrows are so bitter 
that God does not feel for them; 
that no sin is so repugnant that 
God does not offer forgiveness; 
that no loneliness is so desolate 
that He does not walk by our side, 
43 


The Return to Christ 


is surely good news and a message 
for which all men were waiting. 
This Gospel is now being preached 
through the world with a fidelity 
and an enthusiasm unknown in 
any previous age. 

We do not dishonor the past. 
Our fathers were as true to their 
light as we are to ours. The more 
generous thinking could not appear 
until the larger conditions were 
realized. As reverent and earnest 
spirits lived in other days as are 
living now. The sense of depend¬ 
ence on God, of helplessness with¬ 
out a Divine Saviour is no more 
common than it was in earlier 
times. The worship of to-day is 
expressed in hymns many of 
which were written when a harder 


44 


The Return to Christ 

theology bound in icy chains the 
enthusiasm of those who bore the 
name of Christ. All are largely 
children of the times in which 
they dwell. It was inevitable that 
the Roman Empire should influ¬ 
ence the new faith. It took pos¬ 
session of Christianity as an 
external and visible organization, 
and impressed upon it the current 
idea of law. The philosophy of 
Greece was hardly less potent than 
the government of Rome. But 
the leaven of the simplicity that 
was in Jesus has been working in 
all the centuries. The Christ has 
grown into human hearts as they 
have been prepared to receive 
Him; and at last in these days, 
when men bow to no external 
45 


The Return to Christ 


authority, when they dare to utter 
their best thoughts, when the 
Bible is read with an intelligence 
unknown before, the world is turn¬ 
ing toward Christ as the Great 
Teacher for this life as well as the 
Saviour for the future life. Chris¬ 
tian thinkers, and the humblest 
Christian workers, are finding in 
Him the answer to their questions, 
their inspiration, and their satis¬ 
faction. 

In this chapter I have but called 
attention to the fact that the Man 
of Galilee and of Nazareth, the 
Man of Jerusalem and of Calvary, 
in the simple lineaments in which 
He is presented in the New 
Testament, as He is better under¬ 
stood, is modifying the theological 
46 


The Return to Christ 

thinking of our time and becoming 
the greatest and most vital, as well 
as the most beneficent force in the 
life of man. 

What light does the One who 
is best qualified to teach offer us 
when we ask concerning God, duty, 
and destiny ? This at least we may 
say: The answers which He has 
given to the universal and eternal 
questions are the only answers 
which both convince the intellect 
and satisfy the heart. 


47 









The Return to Christ 
In Ethical and 
Spiritual Ideals 


49 













The Return to Christ 
In Ethical and 
Spiritual Ideals 

T O most of the Christian 
world the Sermon on the 
Mount has been little but a beau¬ 
tiful dream. More attention has 
been given to the nature of Christ 
than to the spiritual lessons on 
which He placed strongest em¬ 
phasis. Christian thinkers and 
teachers are now studying the 
words of the Master in the pro¬ 
portions and relations in which 
He uttered them, and with the 
emphasis which He placed upon 
5i 


The Return to Christ 

them. This question of propor¬ 
tion and relation is important, 
since the same words in different 
circumstances may have different 
meanings. 

At the beginning of His career 
Jesus taught His disciples con¬ 
cerning practical duties. When 
He refers to subjects which may 
be called profounder, it is only 
that He may have strong motives 
behind His ethical ideals. There 
are hints of abstract doctrine in 
what He says concerning prayer 
and providence, but the Sermon 
on the Mount as a whole is pre¬ 
eminently ethical. He began 
with the every-day life of His 
hearers, and led them toward in¬ 
visible and eternal realities by a 

52 


The Return to Christ 


gradual process. He taught that 
simple duties are of as great im¬ 
portance as profound beliefs. He 
made prominent the obligation of 
fair and generous judgment, of 
purity of thought, of doing as one 
would be done by. As there has 
been a return to the method and 
spirit of Christ in the sphere of 
theology, so also has there been 
in that of ethical and spiritual con¬ 
victions. 

What are the essential elements 
of the religious life ? The answer 
to this question determines not 
only how we should live in our 
relation to those about us, but 
also what our outlook on the 
world shall be. Has religion to 
do with the seen, or the unseen, 
53 


The Return to Christ 


or with both? It will be well at 
the beginning of this study to 
examine some of the theories 
which have been held in other 
ages of the Church. In the ear¬ 
liest, or Apostolic period, so far 
as we can learn, the teaching of 
Jesus was final. There was no 
philosophy of religion which was 
not covered by His revelation. 

How soon the substitution of 
loyalty to the Church for loyalty 
to Christ became central in the 
religious life, it is difficult to tell, 
although the steps of the process 
may easily be traced, and the 
source whence the idea came 
easily be determined. In the 
Roman State, obedience to exter¬ 
nal authority was implicit and 
54 


The Return to Christ 

universal. When the Church and 
the Empire under Constantine be¬ 
came one, the loyalty which had 
been exacted of the citizen was 
expected of the Christian, and the 
ideals of the State were transferred 
to the Church. During that pe¬ 
riod all in the Church were sup¬ 
posed to be saved, and all outside 
lost. Entering the Church was a 
simple affair, — only submission 
to baptism being required. From 
that fact has grown the feeling, 
which is wide-spread even in our 
time, that membership in the 
Church is the soul of religion. 
This is true in all State churches, 
in which even persons of immoral 
life, by right of their citizenship in 
the State, claim the privileges of 
55 


The Return to Christ 

the Church, and live as if they 
believed that no harm could pos¬ 
sibly come to one who had been 
touched by baptismal waters. But 
union with an organization is dif¬ 
ferent from union with Christ. 
It is possible to be in the Church 
and yet be separated from Him 
by the diameter of the universe. 
Baptism washes away no sins. If 
a heart is not pure, water cannot 
make it so. The Church is good 
as a means, but useless as an end. 
It is not the goal toward which 
we are pressing; it is rather the 
instrumentality by which we are 
helped toward that holy character 
which alone is acceptable in the 
eyes of God. That is the best 
church, the best denomination, 
56 


The Return to Christ 


the best religion which best helps 
a man to live right. Not every 
one who says “ Lord, Lord ” is 
acceptable to Him, but only those 
who do the will of the Father 
which is in heaven. 

Another theory identifies relig¬ 
ion with belief. It holds that 
faith and belief are synonymous. 
Paul taught that men are justified 
by faith. Now this false theory 
holds that our intellectual opinion 
is our faith ; that if we believe that 
Jesus Christ died as our substi¬ 
tute, that he is the second Person 
of the Holy Trinity, that the 
Bible which contains the record 
of His life is inspired, that those 
who do not believe will be pun¬ 
ished, we shall be regarded as hav- 


The Return to Christ 

ing kept the whole law, and be 
saved at the last. This identifica¬ 
tion of faith with belief is a corrup¬ 
tion of the doctrine of Justification 
by Faith. From believing that 
God treats men according to what 
they try to be, rather than by what 
they succeed in doing, some have 
concluded that He judges by the 
creed rather than by the life. 
This has been a serious error. 
Grave and awful immoralities 
have hidden behind orthodoxy of 
statement. The Negro preacher 
who said: “ Brethren, I have 

broken every commandment of 
the Decalogue, but, thank God, I 
have not lost my religion,” was 
more honest than thousands ap¬ 
parently respectable, whose evil 
58 


The Return to Christ 


lives have been overlooked be¬ 
cause they have held traditional 
theories of religion. That mis¬ 
take has not entirely disappeared, 
but it no longer holds the place 
which it occupied even a few years 
ago. 

Another error confuses the re¬ 
ligious life with a sacerdotal sys¬ 
tem. Sacerdotalism teaches that 
in approaching God all need some 
intercessor; that priests make in¬ 
tercession with Christ for their 
people; that sins are pardoned 
because of the sacrifice of the 
mass, or the urgency of priests, 
rather than because of individual 
repentance and renewal of life. 
The Reformed Churches hear 
very little of this preposterous 
59 


The Return to Christ 


idea; but in the Roman Church 
and the Established Church of 
England, as well as in some quar¬ 
ters in this country, the mediation 
of a priest, who is only a man like 
ourselves, has been emphasized 
more than change of heart. Such 
a doctrine dwarfs the spiritual life, 
and dims the truth that all may 
come directly to the Heavenly 
Father and ask of Him whatso¬ 
ever they will. It substitutes 
official mediatorship for personal 
prayer and repentance. 

Others have regarded religion 
as a kind of rapture or mystic 
enthusiasm. This idea has been 
prevalent among the ignorant 
classes, and has been fostered by 
many whose meagre intellectual 
60 


The Return to Christ 


equipment has caused them to 
seek to compensate for lack of 
knowledge by vulgar efforts to 
play upon the emotions. Thus 
multitudes have come to value 
intensity of feelings more than 
genuineness of consecration and 
purity of heart. But emotion is 
only the foam on the crest of the 
wave; it is never the deep move¬ 
ment of the sea. It is one result 
of the religious life rather than 
that life itself. 

These theories have been prev¬ 
alent in the past and have exerted 
a baleful influence in the history 
of the Church. Even in our time 
many confuse loyalty to the soci¬ 
ety with personal union with the 
Master; many imagine that they 
61 


The Return to Christ 

are pleasing God if they believe 
what they are told about the Bible 
or Christ; many trust in human 
mediators rather than in the 
Eternal Love; many measure 
their religion by the effervescence 
of their feelings rather than by 
their loyalty to Truth, or to the 
Law of Love. But in the midst 
of these misconceptions, with a 
swiftness hitherto unknown there 
is growing a loftier and saner ap¬ 
preciation of the essentials of true 
religion. In all the Christian cen¬ 
turies a few have had clear vision 
of what was vital in the religious 
life. There have been misunder¬ 
standings, and mistakes, but there 
has also been true spiritual dis¬ 
cernment. Some elect souls all 
62 


The Return to Christ 


along have realized and taught 
that the divine standard of judg¬ 
ment is character rather than 
creed; loyalty to the spirit of 
truth rather than possession of 
some truths; a loving and genu¬ 
ine purpose rather than a sectarian 
name. The movement toward 
higher and finer ethical and spirit¬ 
ual ideals belongs to our time only 
as the fruit belongs to the tree; 
it is the result of life which has 
been long growing. 

But the Christian teaching of 
to-day is leaving unworthy ideals 
and rising toward those which are 
Christlike and divine. 

The Sermon on the Mount is 
receiving a degree of attention 
which it has never before had. It 

63 


The Return to Christ 


has been ignored and explained 
away. We have been told that 
we are to be judged by faith and 
not by works, and the Sermon on 
the Mount has been called mere 
morality. The world is learning 
better. There is a return to the 
Sermon on the Mount. At last 
that golden utterance is being 
lifted to its true place as the final 
condensation of Christian ethics. 

If Jesus could not make him¬ 
self understood concerning earthly 
things He cannot be believed 
when He speaks concerning 
heavenly things. It is absurd 
to exalt the Divinity of Christ 
because the Master teaches it, 
and at the same time try to evade 
the ethical lessons of this Sermon. 
64 


The Return to Christ 


If He did not mean what He said 
in the Golden Rule, He did not 
mean that He and the Father are 
one; if He did not wish to be 
taken seriously when He said 
“ Resist not evil,” He did not 
so intend when He said that 
when He was lifted up from the 
earth He would draw all men 
unto Him. It has been often 
asserted that it is impossible to 
live the Sermon on the Mount; 
but Jesus lived it, and He is the 
typical man. We are accepting 
as never before, in their simplicity 
and revolutionary force, the words 
which describe the only perfect 
human life. Count Tolstoi, with 
all his realism and extravagance, 
is one of the noblest of modern 
5 65 


The Return to Christ 

prophets. As an expositor he has 
not a due sense of proportion and 
relation; but he has done more 
than any other in this generation 
to show that the Sermon on the 
Mount is practicable, and that 
only as its precepts and principles 
are taken in their evidentj meaning 
is there reason for the existence of 
the Church, or hope for the future 
of the world. More people are 
asking, What would Jesus do? than 
ever before in American, if not in 
the world’s, history. I do not say 
that the Sermon on the Mount 
is fast getting into the life of the 
people, but I do believe that it is 
more generally held before them 
as the true ethical ideal. The 
sermons of the great preachers of 
66 


The Return to Christ 

our time I find echoing the words 
of the Apostle James, who was 
only describing the life of our 
Lord when he wrote, “ Pure re¬ 
ligion and undefiled before our 
God and Father is this, to visit 
the fatherless and widows in their 
affliction, and to keep himself un¬ 
spotted from the world.” The 
preaching of the time is not as 
it once was, open to the charge 
of being “ other-worldly.” The 
prophets of the pulpit are not 
hesitating to declare that Jesus 
lived and died in order that this 
Sermon might become the real¬ 
ized ideal of humanity. And what 
a standard of living is therein up¬ 
lifted ! “ Blessed are those who 

hunger to be right; ” “ Blessed 

67 


The Return to Christ 


are the poor in spirit; ” “ the 
meek ; ” ££ the merciful; ” ££ the 
peacemakers ; ” <c those who are 
persecuted because they do right 
righteousness must be on the in¬ 
side before it can be on the out¬ 
side ; whosoever calls his brother 
a fool —that is, one who makes 
a man a thing—is in danger of 
hell; conquer men by giving to 
them, rather than by taking from 
them; love your enemies ; be not 
so careful about getting riches on 
the earth as about laying them up 
in heaven; judge not; seek first 
the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness. cc Purity,” cc right¬ 
eousness,” <£ peacemakers,” — such 
words distinguish that sermon. 
Jesus never afterward contradicted 


The Return to Christ 


or modified that message. He en¬ 
larged it, showed how it might be 
realized, but placed upon it no 
limitation. If you doubt whether 
there is a return to Christ in our 
time read the utterances of the 
pulpits and the books which are 
written on the teaching of Christ, 
and you will find that they are 
pervaded, as never before, by a 
belief that He was not only the 
loftiest of spiritual teachers, but 
also the most practical. The 
“ advanced” members of the 
Church extol this sermon and 
compel attention to it; while the 
timorous and selfish vainly try 
to shut their eyes, and hug their 
paganisms more closely. 

The return to Christ may also 
69 


The Return to Christ 


be seen in the growing insistence 
on love as the prime essential, and 
the only infallible test of the spirit¬ 
ual life. The Master said, cc By 
this shall all men know that ye 
are my disciples, if ye have love 
one toward another.” These ex¬ 
plicit words have been reversed 
and made to read, “ You are His 
disciples if you join the church 
and receive baptism ; ” or, “ if 
you believe in His sacrificial 
atonement; ” or “ if you commit 
yourself unto the priests of the 
Church;” or “if you feel the 
thrills of a deep emotion:” but 
over all these human voices rises 
clear and strong the divine word, 
You will be known as my dis¬ 
ciples “if ye love one another.” 

70 


The Return to Christ 


What means the eagerness to serve 
humanity which is seen on every 
hand ? What mean the Univer¬ 
sity Settlements, the University 
Extension Movement, the social 
work of the Salvation Army, the 
prison work of the Volunteers ? 
What means that deep longing for 
brotherhood, which is heard fre¬ 
quently enough to be a prophecy 
of what is coming ? What means 
the question. Has any man a 
right to be rich, and to keep his 
riches to himself? What is the 
secret of the most magnificent 
crusade in human history — the 
foreign missionary movement ? 
There is one reply to these ques¬ 
tions : As never before, the re¬ 
ligious life is being measured by 


The Return to Christ 

what it does in the way of loving 
service. 

The Master took a towel and 
girded himself and washed his dis¬ 
ciples* feet, and thus gave them an 
example. He declared that, at 
the last, men will be judged by 
what they have done for the poor, 
the imprisoned, the orphaned, the 
hungry. The religion of our time 
is being brought to that judgment- 
seat. Am I not correct when I 
say that almost everywhere when 
men profess to be spiritual we ask 
if they show in their lives the very 
love that was in Christ ? If they 
do they are trusted; if they do 
not they are regarded as hypo¬ 
crites, however orthodox their 
creed and however venerable their 
72 


The Return to Christ 

church. That love is the splendid 
ideal which now shines in the ho¬ 
rizon of the Christian world. 

This return to Christ is seen 
in the recurrence to the Scriptural 
interpretation of the word “ faith.” 
Jesus made much of faith. Some¬ 
how since that time His mean¬ 
ing has been lost; but it is being 
found again. 

Faith is not mere belief; it is 
that volition which binds the heart 
of man to the will of God. Who 
have faith? Those who in ease 
and quiet say that they accept 
the creeds ? That may be easy 
enough. It is never difficult to 
believe anything that is known to 
be true ; but there is something 
which is difficult. When all our 


73 


The Return to Christ 


plans are frustrated ; when sick¬ 
ness drives away health; when 
calamity shuts out prosperity; 
when we are afflicted and afflicted 
and afflicted again, — to be able to 
trust that God is good is far dif¬ 
ferent and more difficult. To en¬ 
dure as seeing Him who is invis¬ 
ible is to manifest faith. Jesus 
revealed God as the Father and 
Friend of all men ; and faith is 
living in the trust that He is our 
Father and Friend, and that He 
is doing all things well. The 
loftiest utterance of faith that was 
ever put into human language is 
in these words : “ Though he slay 
me, yet will I trust in Him.” 1 
I have thus tried to show that 

1 Job xiii. 15, King James Version. 

74 


The Return to Christ 


great numbers of our most ear¬ 
nest and honest thinkers are getting 
back to Christ's ideals concerning 
the moral and spiritual life. They 
are moving away from mechanical 
teachings about God and His truth, 
and thinking of them in the ra¬ 
tional and vital form in which 
they were presented by Jesus. 

The movement is not universal, 
but it is gaining in both volume 
and momentum. Jesus taught 
simple but searching lessons. He 
was the enemy of mere formality. 
He showed that there was no more 
need of intercessory priests, for 
every man may plead with God 
for himself; that men may find 
God wherever and whenever they 
turn their hearts toward Him; 

75 


The Return to Christ 


and that His mission was to make 
men holy as God is holy. In 
other words He came to make 
men good ; and what goodness is, 
He showed in His own life. He 
never gave a command which He 
had not first lived. In the midst 
of the current confusion concern¬ 
ing theology, and the clashing of 
ethical theories, the voice of the 
Master rises strong and clear. 
His message is plain enough for 
a child to understand: The true 
life is distinguished by love, which 
is manifested in obedience toward 
God and service toward our fel¬ 
low-men. 

Religious teachers, and the com¬ 
mon people also, are beginning to 
see that the cross of Christ is the 
76 


The Return to Christ 

revelation of the loftiest ethical 
standard because it shows the 
divinest Being in the universe 
sacrificing Himself for the most 
unworthy. The burden of the 
most inspired and inspiring teach¬ 
ing is this: the spiritual life can 
be realized only by those who 
patiently walk in cc the royal way 
of the holy cross.” The return 
to Christ is not a return to Him 
who died eighteen hundred years 
ago, but to Him who said, “ I am 
alive forevermore,” and who in 
our time, as truly as ever, is bind- 
ing up broken hearts, impressing 
men with the consciousness of the 
Divine Fatherhood, saving from 
sin, and preaching a present Gos¬ 
pel to the poor. Perhaps the 
77 


The Return to Christ 

most encouraging sign of the times 
is the fact that so many are at least 
asking whether the teachings of 
Christ are practicable. That shows 
that they believe that they are the 
best rule of life if they can be 
lived. They can be lived. The 
Beatitudes are possibilities: and 
the law of love is worthy to be a 
universal law. This is the inspi¬ 
ration of almost all of the upward 
movements of our time. Two of 
the greatest questions which a 
human being can ever ask are: 
“What ought I to be?” and, 
“ What ought I to do ? ” With a 
constantly increasing emphasis 
those who bear the Christian 
name, and many who have con¬ 
fessed their faith by deeds rather 
78 


The Return to Christ 


than words, are answering, with 
a simplicity and directness that 
admit of no misunderstanding: 
Look to Jesus Christ, and in 
Him see what you were created 
to be ; ask Jesus Christ, and He 
will tell you what it is God’s will 
that you should do. 


79 


























% 





















The Return to Christ 
In Social Ideals 


6 


81 


The Return to Christ 
In Social Ideals 


W E are in the midst of a 
great social evolution, or 
perhaps it would be more accurate 
to say a social revolution, which 
promises to continue until our 
whole social life is changed. 

The old conditions were like a 
grim and strongly fortified castle, 
whose foundations were bedded 
in the earth, and whose parapets 
were protected at every point. 
The castle is still standing, and 
seems to be as strong as ever, 
but the ground on which it is 
built is undermined, and some 
83 


The Return to Christ 

fine morning men will awake and 
find the structure in ruins, and in 
its place a new creation, more hu¬ 
mane, more brotherly, and more 
Christian. The condensation of 
the social teachings of Jesus has 
been fittingly and universally 
called “The Golden Rule.” It 
is the briefest possible way for 
saying that every man should live 
toward his brother as he would 
have his brother live toward him. 
There is only one higher utter¬ 
ance of social ethics, and that is in 
the new commandment, “ Love 
one another as I have loved you.” 

In order to appreciate the revo¬ 
lutionary character of the move¬ 
ment which is called “The Return 
to Christ,” it will be necessary to 
84 


The Return to Christ 

study a little some of the social 
ideals which have prevailed, and 
which are still widely accepted. 

For a long time — how long, we 
need not ask — society has been 
strangely divided. Evolution has 
not yet lifted the race above the 
state of individual and corporate 
antagonisms. 

Brotherhood has been unknown, 
except as a prophecy, and that 
among a few elect souls. History 
is largely the record of the rich 
and strong oppressing the poor 
and weak; of those who have had 
knowledge and force tyrannizing 
over those who were ignorant and 
without faculty ; of favored ones 
enjoying comfort and luxury while 
others exist on the borders of 
85 


The Return to Christ 


starvation. Human beings are 
members of one family, but the 
relationship has not always been 
appreciated. I will not go far 
back in history for illustrations. 
The contrast will be dark enough 
if we consider the conditions 
which have prevailed during the 
last century, and which are not 
unknown now in civilized lands. 

Men have been and are still 
separated into classes because of 
their birth. The ancestors of the 
ruling classes were successful rob¬ 
bers and therefore claimed an un¬ 
due share of the products of the 
earth and of the service of their 
fellow-beings. The children cling 
to the spoils as if they were not 
the fruit of robbery. In almost 
86 


The Return to Christ 

all nations, except our own, there 
is an hereditary class who, without 
reference to any service which 
they render or any virtuous char¬ 
acter which they possess, claim 
and exact deference and support. 
These parasites fatten on the social 
body; they give nothing, but ex¬ 
pect everything. Individuals may 
not be blameworthy, but the sys¬ 
tem is radically imperfect. 

Other distinctions are founded 
on wealth. Some who happen 
to live at the right time or in a 
favored place become rich, while 
their neighbors — equally worthy 
and industrious — remain in pov¬ 
erty. Success generates a spirit of 
self-confidence and self-assertion. 
Thus there has grown up an 

87 


The Return to Christ 


aristocracy of wealth, which usually 
is ignoble, since it gains its su¬ 
premacy by an unequal and unjust 
distribution of the products of 
labor, and maintains its position 
by clinging selfishly to benefits 
which belong to the community 
rather than the individual. Al¬ 
most all the so-called great houses 
of our time have their roots buried 
deep in the extortion and intrigue 
of other times. The rich look 
down upon the poor, and the 
poor look jealously, and often 
angrily, toward the rich. From 
the earliest times there has been 
the consciousness of injustice on 
the one side, and the tendency to 
oppress on the other. Who can 
wonder that the inquiry is so 


The Return to Christ 

often urged: Where is justice 
when one class of men compels 
others to labor like slaves from 
early in the morning until late at 
night for a bare subsistence, under 
circumstances which make intel¬ 
lectual and spiritual improvement 
impossible, while their employers, 
who work but a few hours, re¬ 
ceive immense incomes, and have 
every opportunity for improve¬ 
ment and culture ? This question 
was brought home to me a few 
years ago by an illustration which 
I venture to describe. 

I was in one of the homes of 
John Robinson, the Pilgrim pas¬ 
tor, in England, when I was 
awakened at six o’clock in the 
morning by the whistle on the 
89 


The Return to Christ 

factory opposite where I was 
sleeping, calling six hundred men 
to their work. An hour and a 
half later the gates were opened, 
and swarms of operatives, hur¬ 
riedly putting on their wraps as 
they ran, rushed out in this direc¬ 
tion and that. When I asked, 
“ What does this mean ? ” the 
reply was, “They are going to 
their breakfasts.” They began 
work at six; then after the first 
period they had three quarters of 
an hour for breakfast; and some 
lived so far away that a cold meal 
under the sheds was the best that 
they could have. About the 
same time was allowed for dinner, 
and then they worked again until 
seven in the evening, and often 
90 


The Return to Christ 


much later. I asked, “ What 
wages do they receive ? ” “ Most 
of them a sovereign a week” — 
less than five dollars in our money 
— “ on which families must be 
supported, rent paid, education se¬ 
cured, and provision made for the 
rainy day.” 

These facts started another line 
of inquiries: How do the em¬ 
ployers live ? Where do they 
spend their time ? What profits 
do they realize ? I found that 
they were living like princes; and 
working as little or much as they 
thought best. They were carry¬ 
ing great responsibilities, to be 
sure, but not heavier ones than 
many of those whom they em¬ 
ployed, who, in addition to respon- 
9 1 


The Return to Christ 

sibility for work, had to plan some 
way in which to live and maintain 
a family on less than five dollars 
a week. I have pondered that 
problem long and earnestly. The 
faces of those hurrying men have 
haunted me for years. The 
thought that they must be at 
work at six in the morning, and 
continue with only brief interrup¬ 
tions, until late in the evening, 
has seemed to me an awfully real¬ 
istic picture of multitudes whose 
fidelity and industry is, to say the 
least, quite as trustworthy as that 
of those who employ them. Are 
the social relations represented by 
' that factory either just or right ? 
Are not the products of labor dis¬ 
tributed according to false prin- 
9 2 


The Return to Christ 


ciples ? If a man will not work 
ought he to be allowed to eat ? 
If he does work faithfully and 
skilfully ought he not to be paid 
in some proportion to his fidelity 
and the needs of his life? That 
conditions would be no better if 
the idle poor felt that they could 
be supported in their idleness, I 
freely grant; but why should the 
idle rich be supported by the pub¬ 
lic any more than the idle poor ? 
Some one once asked why the 
English nobility are like the lilies 
of the field, and the witty reply 
was, “ Because they toil not, nei¬ 
ther do they spin.” Why should 
one whose aim in life is to throw 
away money in debauchery in 
Paris or Vienna be allowed to 


93 


The Return to Christ 

grind the faces of the poor in Scot¬ 
land or Ireland ? Why should 
one in New York or California 
be permitted to get a monopoly 
in land, possibly by inheritance 
from dishonest ancestors, while his 
far more worthy neighbor, who is 
industrious and frugal has not the 
opportunity to secure for himself 
enough even for a home ? 

These evils are peculiar to no 
one nation or time. Paul said 
that we should bear one another’s 
burdens, and so fulfil the law ; 
but men are trying to escape 
from their own burdens by crowd¬ 
ing them on the weaker backs 
of others. The Apostle said, 
“ Wherefore, putting away lying, 
speak every man truth with his 
94 


The Return to Christ 


neighbor, for we are members one 
of another ; ” but social usage has 
justified lying in order that re¬ 
sponsibility for our neighbors may 
be evaded. The result is seen in 
all great cities. The palaces of 
Fifth Avenue overlook the hovels 
of the East Side; and the slums 
of Westminster reach almost to 
the mansions of Belgravia. 

This is not all of modern so¬ 
ciety, but it is one side. Even 
in unchristian lands the spirit of 
brotherhood now and then asserts 
itself; and, ever since our Mas¬ 
ter’s time, there have been many 
willing not only to give of their 
wealth, but to lay down their lives 
for their brethren; but they are 
not in the majority. To those 
95 


The Return to Christ 


who sit in ceiled houses, rejoicing 
in the consciousness of a surplus 
in the bank, and never knowing 
the pangs of hunger, this will 
seem a distorted and extravagant 
picture; but to those who have 
tried by industry and frugality to 
get a little ahead and then lost 
all, who have seen hunger often 
invade their household, and the 
winter approaching without means 
to provide for clothing, the picture 
will seem inadequate. The point 
of view will determine our opinion 
as to the fairness of this sketch of 
the existing social order. 

But it is time to turn to the 
brighter side. I therefore ask 
you to consider with me how the 
return to Christ is manifesting 
96 


The Return to Christ 


itself in social ideals, usages, and 
conditions. 

There is a new appreciation of 
the value of man. In the old 
days a man was thought of only 
as a miserable sinner — a being 
in whom there was no good, no 
natural aspirations toward better 
things, in fact, little different from 
an animal, except in the possession 
of the power of choice. Life 
reflects thought. If men are 
regarded as animals they will be 
treated no better. If we think 
alike of a dog and of a child, our 
conduct toward both will be the 
same. It was but a step from the 
old doctrine of man to the treat¬ 
ment of man as a thing. We 
feel no responsibility for conduct 
7 97 


The Return to Christ 

toward things. Slavery was nat¬ 
ural and justifiable when one class 
could imagine that it was de¬ 
scended from the gods, and that 
all others were but little better than 
the beasts that perish. Injustice 
in the distribution of the products 
of labor is inevitable where em¬ 
ployees are valued like commodi¬ 
ties. But there are visible at 
least the beginnings of a return to 
our Lord's teaching concerning 
man. He may be a sinner, he 
may have a depraved nature, but 
he is in the image of God. Jesus 
Christ is the revelation of essential 
manhood. The New Testament 
teaches that every human being is 
a child of God, and an heir of 
eternity. It emphasizes not his 
98 


The Return to Christ 

degradation but his possible per¬ 
fection. Jesus spoke encourag¬ 
ingly to the woman who broke 
the alabaster box on His feet; He 
died for those who cursed and 
crucified Him. The cross con¬ 
denses Christ’s doctrine concerning 
man. The vilest are to be saved 
as if they were the best, because 
they have in them possibilities of 
becoming the best. This teaching 
is receiving emphasis which it never 
had before. Christian ministers 
are lifting above every doctrine 
except the Divine Fatherhood the 
dignity and glory of man, — Jesus 
himself the typical man, — all 
others intended to be what He 
was. That hurrying crowd of 
laborers in John Robinson’s old 
99 


LifC, 


The Return to Christ 


home, with faces begrimed and hair 
unkempt, rushing to their break¬ 
fasts, was not merely a herd of 
animals. It was a company of 
immortal spirits, for a while limited 
and confined, but sometime to be 
free, and victorious over a hard 
environment. Those in whom 
God dwells cannot forever be 
enslaved ; those who were made 
to be what Christ was cannot for¬ 
ever be herded in garrets and mines. 

This Gospel is too revolution¬ 
ary to be free from suspicion. It 
is not everywhere preached. It is 
still called humanitarianism, and 
sneered at as lax and loose by 
those who think that they know 
more about eternity than others 
know about time ; but it holds the 


ioo 


The Return to Christ 


future in its hands, for it is exactly 
the truth that Jesus taught. 

The return to Christ is evident 
in the new emphasis which is placed 
on the doctrine of human brother¬ 
hood. Our Master’s words, “ All 
ye are brethren,” are beginning to 
penetrate circles which they have 
never before reached. If the 
creeds were to be re-written, one 
truth, which I do not know to be 
in any existing creed, would find a 
prominent place — the doctrine of 
the brotherhood of man. The 
great pulpits of the world are 
repeating this message. The mis¬ 
sionaries in times of famine in 
India and China are showing that 
brotherhood is at the front in 
mission fields. Those who have 


IOI 


The Return to Christ 


been separated by both physical 
and social barriers are beginning 
to understand that they are of 
one blood. Fictitious distinctions 
among classes are becoming a 
shade more indistinct. Those who 
have the spirit of Christ, in all 
the life of to-day, are insisting 
that pride of position which has 
no better basis than the accident 
of birth is hardly worth laughing 
at. The refusal of Samuel Morley 
and Mr. Gladstone to accept the 
offer of the peerage was the asser¬ 
tion that character is the only 
worthy patent of nobility. The 
applause which greeted their de¬ 
cision showed that the people value 
manhood more than titles. <c The 
rank is but the guinea stamp.” 


102 


The Return to Christ 


The return to Christ is evident 
in the progress which has been 
made in the direction of Christian 
Socialism, which, in reality, is little 
but an effort to make brotherhood 
dominant in the social order. 
Christian Socialism is different 
from the State Socialism of Ger¬ 
many, and the Anarchistic Social¬ 
ism of France and Belgium. The 
noblest exponents of Christian 
Socialism in our time have been 
such men as Frederick Denison 
Maurice and Charles Kingsley in 
England, and most of the leaders 
in the Social Settlement work in 
England and America. 

The State Socialist is selfish. 
He desires, if we may judge by his 
utterances, to substitute State con- 
103 


The Return to Christ 


trol of manufactures, of natural 
advantages, of the marketing of 
products, not so much that hu¬ 
manity may be made better, as 
because he sees in it a means by 
which those who are behind may 
get to the front in the human 
struggle. The Christian Socialist, 
however, is actuated by an unselfish 
desire to promote the welfare of 
humanity because all are brothers. 
The one would substitute for the 
tyranny of competition that of the 
State; the other would have 
brotherhood to rule in all spheres. 
The fact that Christian Socialism 
is so largely pervading the educated 
classes, especially in Great Britain, 
and that State Socialism is not 
rapidly gaining ground, is an evi- 
104 


The Return to Christ 


dence that the spirit of Christ is 
ruling in unexpected places. The 
Universities of Oxford and Cam¬ 
bridge are full of this form of Social¬ 
ism ; and many American institu¬ 
tions are moving along the same 
lines ; while the more thoughtful 
ministers of both lands, and of all 
denominations, largely sympathize 
with the ideals and methods of the 
movement. 

This return to brotherhood as 
taught by Christ is seen in the 
efforts which are being made to 
substitute co-operation for com¬ 
petition in business. These efforts 
have not been very successful, and 
they may never succeed (I for 
one am by no means sure that 
competition is necessarily selfish); 

105 


The Return to Christ 


but they are index fingers pointing 
toward the better social order 
which is coming. Those who love 
one another as Christ loved men 
cannot eternally struggle to get 
the better of one another; they 
must at least combine for mutual 
help toward the possession of all 
things essential to the development 
of character and a decent liveli¬ 
hood ; and this is the ideal which 
the prophets of the Church are up¬ 
lifting, and which the people are 
demanding. 

Another illustration of this fact 
is found in efforts at profit-sharing 
in business, by which the employed 
are admitted into practical partner¬ 
ship with their employers, — a 
principle which tends to bring out 
106 


The Return to Christ 


that which is best' on both sides. 
Profit-sharing is everywhere gain- 
ing ground. 

Somewhat in the same line is 
the effort to boycott all those em¬ 
ployers who do not deal justly 
with their employees. 

A practical test of the spirit of 
Christ is willingness to pay a 
higher price for an article, or 
even to go without it, rather than 
to buy, either directly, or indi¬ 
rectly, of those who oppress their 
employees. One of the most Chris¬ 
tian things I know in this metro¬ 
politan district is “the White 
List,” which has been prepared 
from no selfish motive, and 
which makes it possible for pur¬ 
chasers to know who fairly treat 
107 


The Return to Christ 

their employees. That white list 
tells more for the pervasive power 
of Christianity in this vicinity than 
would the building of a dozen 
new churches, or the sending of 
a score of new foreign missiona¬ 
ries, important as both might be. 

A new appreciation of the fact 
that it is the duty of the cultured 
rich to serve the ignorant and poor 
is rising into prominence. The 
University Extension system, 
which is the realization by the 
scholarly that they are the kins¬ 
men of the unlearned, that learn¬ 
ing is an ordainment to service, 
shows how superbly one class is 
returning to the spirit of Him 
who came “ not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister.” 

108 


The Return to Christ 


The educated man who keeps 
his culture to himself will soon be 
regarded as a miser of a more 
miserable type than he who never 
uses his wealth for the public 
good. 

I will give another illustration, 
not quite so familiar. A large 
manufacturing establishment, after 
it had adopted a generous plan of 
profit-sharing, after it had made 
provision by which all its em¬ 
ployees might have wholesome 
meals at cost, without leaving the 
premises, and after it had fitted 
its works with the latest and best 
improvements of sanitary science, 
went a step farther and provided 
intellectual and spiritual improve¬ 
ment for those who were willing 
109 


The Return to Christ 


to receive it. It built a large 
chapel for the free use of all will¬ 
ing to worship in it on Sun¬ 
day, and kept it open every day 
for recitations, music, addresses, 
or anything which would make 
brighter the life of the workers. 

I have addressed many audi¬ 
ences, but never any which im¬ 
pressed me more than the one in 
that chapel, where two or three 
hundred women were gathered; 
where their employer presided and 
talked to them as a father rather 
than as a master, and who intro¬ 
duced me as his friend and theirs. 
In connection with that establish¬ 
ment a trained nurse is constantly 
employed to look after the sick; 
a home is provided into which the 
no 


The Return to Christ 


poor who are worn out with ser¬ 
vice and have no friends may find 
rest and peace ; and all this is in 
addition to fair remuneration and 
suitable means for stimulating self- 
help. Does not such a manufac¬ 
tory suggest the way in which 
Jesus would conduct similar works 
if He were on earth ? All men 
are not equally wise, skilful, ef¬ 
ficient ; there are differences of 
gifts; some have large faculty, 
and some small; some will be 
rich, and some poor. A universal 
monotony is not the best social 
condition. Something far better 
is the recognition by the rich that 
they are ordained to use their 
riches for the welfare of the needy ; 
by the strong that they are di- 


The Return to Christ 


vinely called to serve the weak; 
by the educated that culture is 
never to be hoarded, but always 
used for the common weal; by 
those who are Christians that they 
have a Gospel for all with heavy 
hearts and sinful lives. 

More swiftly than many dream, 
this return to Christ is bringing 
a better day. The realization that 
men are not things, nor even ani¬ 
mals, but children of God, created 
for an endless and perfect exist¬ 
ence, is an immense gain. To 
walk the streets and see the long 
processions of human beings, and 
then to reflect that God has some 
great and blessed purpose for 
every hurrying man and every 
weeping child, is to have a new 


The Return to Christ 


aspect put on human life. It 
gives dignity to existence and 
motive to service. The doctrine 
of brotherhood is transforming 
institutions. It is getting into 
States and politics, showing that 
nations and individuals are tied 
together, and that all have duties 
to those who live on the other 
side of the world, as well as to 
those who live at their next door. 
“ All ye are brethren: ” this is 
the truth which is undermining 
oppressions, destroying prejudice, 
making those who have riches 
realize that they have no right to 
keep them to themselves, and 
showing that every service, even 
the slightest, performed for an¬ 
other, is a service rendered to 
8 113 


The Return to Christ 


one in whom God dwells as really 
as He dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth. 
Our social conditions are not yet 
perfect. Long stretches of evo¬ 
lution are before us. Nations are 
nominally Christian, but they are 
not actually Christian. Even 
many Christian churches are open 
to the reproach of being conducted 
according to worldly methods. 
But in spite of darkness and mis¬ 
understanding, in spite of all false 
interpretations and maladjust¬ 
ments, the Christ is daily getting 
a place in the social life of the 
world which He never before 
possessed. We are beginning to 
understand that no orthodoxy of 
belief concerning God whom we 
have not seen can compensate for 


The Return to Christ 


lack of love for our brother whom 
we have seen. 

This truth, which received its 
loftiest expression and its undying 
emphasis when the Christ laid 
down His life for those who had 
nothing to give in return, is slowly 
but surely becoming the master- 
thought of all our thinking, the 
master-light of all our seeing, and 
the master-motive of all our living. 










The Return to Christ 
In Ideals of the King¬ 
dom of God, and 
Methods by which it 
is to be Advanced 






































t 







The Return to Christ 
In Ideals of the King¬ 
dom of God, and 
Methods by which it 
is to be Advanced 



‘WO thoughts are singularly 


JL prominent in the Christian 
revelation : the Kingdom of God 
is to embrace all nations, and it is 
to be advanced by the simple pro- 
cess of making disciples. The 
Church as an institution had a 
small place in the teaching of 
Jesus. He used the word, so far 
as we know, but twice : once in 
His remark to Peter concerning 


The Return to Christ 


the “rock” on which He would 
build His Church; and once when 
He was telling those who felt that 
they had been injured, what their 
conduct should be toward those 
who had treated them unkindly. 
The prominence which the Church 
as an institution has gained is the 
result of putting a means into the 
place which belongs to an end. 
The Church is the agent by which 
the Kingdom is to be advanced. 
It is like an army which exists not 
for itself, but to preserve and ex¬ 
tend a nation. The Master gave 
the emphasis to the idea of the 
Kingdom of God. 

Sometimes it seems as if He 
made more of that than of the 
salvation of individual souls. His 


120 


The Return to Christ 


teaching on this subject was so 
realistic that the disciples found 
it easy to confuse the spiritual 
institution with an earthly and 
visible dominion. Whenever the 
the word “ kingdom ” occurs it 
must be understood as a corpo¬ 
rate union of individuals, such as 
is covered by our word nation. 
There was no other word in use 
at that time which so well ex¬ 
pressed the idea which He wished 
to convey. He might with equal 
accuracy have spoken of the re¬ 
public, or the commonwealth of 
God. The word “ kingdom ” ap¬ 
pears because no other idea of a 
nation was current among those 
whom He addressed. He meant 
to say that He came to hasten 


The Return to Christ 


the time in which all men would 
be gathered into one united and 
blessed society, with common in¬ 
terests, common hopes, common 
aims, under the sway of the com¬ 
mon Father. That simple teach¬ 
ing quickly became corrupted. 
The influence of the Roman State 
pressed new meanings into words 
which before had been beautifully 
simple and spiritual. It has taken 
long for the stream of Christian 
thought to work itself clear from 
pagan corruptions. Let us ob¬ 
serve some of the false ideas of 
the Kingdom which early became 
current among Christians. 

Perhaps the most pernicious 
was that which identified the 
Kingdom and the Church. From 
122 


The Return to Christ 


being a spiritual society the King¬ 
dom came to be regarded as a 
visible organization which con¬ 
verts entered by baptism, as they 
became citizens of a State by tak¬ 
ing the oath of allegiance. With 
that corruption the old spiritual 
ideals began to go down. Can¬ 
didates for membership were not 
asked whether they would belong 
to Christ and were pure in heart, 
but whether they belonged to the 
Church, and had been baptized. 
Thus in time the emphasis passed 
from insistence on holy charac¬ 
ter to membership in a visible 
society. 

The next corruption identified 
the Church with an earthly State. 
It is impossible for Americans to 
123 


The Return to Christ 


understand all that this change 
meant. With us there is no con¬ 
nection between Church and State, 
and no one imagines that mem¬ 
bership in the State implies mem¬ 
bership in the Church. But that 
pernicious belief even now lingers 
in many lands where irreligious 
rulers make laws for the Church ; 
and persons of vicious and crim¬ 
inal lives claim its rights and bless¬ 
ings because of their citizenship in 
the State. Thus the very name 
Christian is misrepresented and 
the most characteristic ethical 
teaching of Jesus entirely ignored. 

As a result of such theories the 
means of advancing the Kingdom, 
which with Jesus was a mere 
process of making disciples, in 
124 


The Return to Christ 


acknowledgment of which men 
were to be baptized, has been 
changed, and baptism itself has 
been put at the front; while there 
is claimed for it a regenerative 
force which in the nature of things 
it cannot possess. That persons 
become Christians by being bap¬ 
tized is even now widely taught. 
Even in this nineteenth century, 
and in this land, many give more 
prominence to baptism than to 
change of heart, and have be¬ 
come so enamoured of the Church 
that they lay little stress upon pure 
religion. 

How did Jesus speak of the 
Kingdom of God? It was His 
Father’s Kingdom. Its lines were 
co-terminous with no earthly State. 
125 


The Return to Christ 

It contained no suggestion of 
earthly rulers, or of a dominion 
like that which crushed the poor 
in days when Rome was mistress 
of the world. A kingdom ? Yes, 
God’s Kingdom; a divine sway, 
silent, invisible, spiritual, moving 
on life and society by elemental 
forces, and transforming both by 
processes as quiet and resistless 
as the light. It was not only 
His Father’s Kingdom, it was 
also a kingdom of righteousness. 
Earthly nations are limited by 
frontiers ; this Kingdom is defined 
by the character of its subjects. 
It is the society of those who seek 
truth and strive to work right¬ 
eousness. Jesus was explicit. He 
taught that men must be right in- 
126 


The Return to Christ 

side before they can be right out¬ 
side ; conduct which is not the 
outgrowth of a pure heart is but 
a cloak hiding deformity. In that 
new State the only patent of no¬ 
bility is purity of heart, and the 
only competition is in loving ser¬ 
vice. A clear stream cannot flow 
from a foul fountain. Such a 
sway never follows the realization 
of wordly ambitions. It is the 
effervescence of the Spirit of God 
in human society. 

Jesus spoke of a kingdom which 
was to exist on the earth. “ King¬ 
dom of God ” and “ Kingdom of 
Heaven ” mean the same thing. 
Primarily the phrase does not re¬ 
fer to a state beyond the grave, 
but to one which has the quality 
127 


The Return to Christ 

of heaven here and now. Jesus 
was no dreamer. He never sent 
men away from their fellows in 
order that they might be good and 
do right. He knew that solitude 
was no escape from temptation. 
He did not pray that His disci¬ 
ples might be taken out of the 
world, but that they might be 
kept from its evil. He knew that 
a man alone in a desert may be as 
foul as in the slums of any city. 
Human beings living together in 
right relations and serving one 
another with unselfish and intel¬ 
ligent devotion, thinking pure 
thoughts, and performing loving 
deeds on the earth and thus being 
fitted for more beautiful and satis¬ 
fying companionships hereafter — 
128 


The Return to Christ 


this was His ideal of righteousness. 
He offered no rewards after death 
to any who should not begin to 
live in heaven before death. He 
taught men to pray—and I some¬ 
times think we miss the solemn 
meaning of the words which we so 
glibly repeat—“ Forgive us our 
debts as we have forgiven our 
debtors.” How many persons 
dare pray that prayer ? Right¬ 
eousness in a society in which men 
rub elbows and have to bear with 
one another’s frailities, righteous¬ 
ness on the earth and not in some 
far away heaven, — this was the 
doctrine of the Kingdom which 
Jesus taught. It was utterly un¬ 
like the labored and incomprehen¬ 
sible theories which the Church 


9 


129 


The Return to Christ 


and the schools have striven to 
crowd into its place. 

This Kingdom is to embrace all 
men. No insular ideals were suf¬ 
ficient for the Christ when He 
looked over humanity. Into the 
common life of the world He has 
come, the life which throbs with 
aspiration and struggle, and which 
is often crushed by defeat. He 
claims all men. “Go, make disci¬ 
ples of all nations,” and teach 
everybody what I have taught 
you. This would have been ex¬ 
tremely unsatisfactory if He had 
not at the same time taught that 
the Kingdom is to fill the earth 
and is to endure throughout eter¬ 
nity. A society of those who are 
trying to be good, destined at 
130 


The Return to Christ 


some future day to include all 
men of all time, and on the throne 
no tyrant, no impersonation of 
abstract justice, but the Eternal 
Father, who uses all law, and all 
events, and all institutions and 
authority solely to advance His 
children toward that character 
whose fruits are lasting joy and 
abiding peace, was the far off di¬ 
vine event which Jesus discerned. 
He went among men as their 
Brother, and yet as one having 
authority. In the midst of their 
selfishness, vice, superstition, and 
endless divisions, He called them 
to something better. We might 
interpret His words thus: “You 
talk about being Pharisees, Saddu- 
cees, Jews, Romans; but I claim 
I 3 I 


The Return to Christ 


you for a higher King than 
Herod, a nobler Emperor than 
Caesar, and a better and vaster 
Empire than Rome. You belong 
to God. He calls you to His 
life, to His stainless holiness, to 
His love that stops at no sacrifice, 
and to His peace that passes all 
understanding. They belong to 
you and you belong to them.” 

To promote this kingdom was 
the mission of Jesus. Some think 
that He died in order that men 
might be forgiven, to satisfy Divine 
justice, to honor a holy law; but 
He declares that He died in 
order that He might establish and 
advance the Kingdom of God. 
The Kingdom is the end; the 
work of our Lord was the means. 


132 


The Return to Christ 

The way in which this end was to 
be accomplished is characteristic 
of the Master. His life was quiet 
and simple. He made disciples 
by talking with men, by impress¬ 
ing upon their minds eternal reali¬ 
ties. His disciples He also made 
apostles. It was so at first, and it 
must be so now. As soon as a 
man knows Christ, and feels the 
thrill of His love, he must do what 
Christ did — go to some one else 
with His message and His life. 
Could anything be simpler than 
for that young Peasant of Galilee 
to say to his faithful adherents just 
before He left them forever: 
“Now go forth into all nations, 
and teach what you have learned; 
go among men just as I have been 
i33 


The Return to Christ 

among you. I came to Galilee, 
gathered about me a few men, and 
told them of the Father and His 
Kingdom ; you go out and do the 
same. Tell them that they belong 
to God, and that they ought to 
recognize it; make them see what 
they are losing ; help them to find 
what you have found; tell them 
everything I have told you.” And 
then His words rise into thrilling 
and immortal music, as He adds : 
<c Lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world.” No 
other thought concerning the ad¬ 
vancement of the Kingdom that I 
remember ever came from Jesus. 
His disciples became apostles. 
They made other disciples, who 
in turn became apostles; and that 
i34 


The Return to Christ 


process is to go on until the world 
is redeemed. There was no hint 
in His words of any official leader¬ 
ship, no tone of dictation, no 
putting of the minister above the 
people, no giving any special 
authority to any single person. 
All His disciples, of necessity and 
quickly, impelled by the conscious¬ 
ness of His presence with them, 
went out to their work, which was 
to be world-wide and was never 
to cease. That was His method of 
saving men. Has it ever been im¬ 
proved upon? Do vast churches, 
splendid organizations, robed and 
mitred ecclesiastics, gorgeous cere¬ 
monials, make men think of 
Christ — make them love one 
another any better, make them 
i35 


The Return to Christ 

more willing to be to others what 
Jesus was ? There is no inspira¬ 
tion toward better things in forms, 
ceremonies, buildings, pomp, and 
show, but I will tell you what does 
stimulate holy activity. A busi¬ 
ness man has it in his power to 
keep his wealth and social position 
by dishonesty, but he says quietly, 
yet firmly, “ 1 will do no wrong, 
even though I lose all my wealth.” 
There is something in the example 
of that man which makes all about 
him long to be like him. He 
shames into confusion the mean¬ 
ness of niggardly souls who would 
rather be rich among men than 
rich in the sight of God. One 
man who chooses to do right and 
fail, rather than to do wrong and 
136 


The Return to Christ 

prosper, in an age when to tamper 
with conscience is easy, is worth 
more to the kingdom than a cathe¬ 
dral full of dignitaries mumbling 
words which people do not under¬ 
stand. When Cardinal Manning 
stood before the high altar in 
Kensington celebrating Mass I do 
not think that many people imag¬ 
ined that he was very much like 
Christ; but when, an old man, too 
feeble to walk, he drove down to 
Tower Hamlets, went among the 
surging, angry crowd of violent 
cc dockers,” heard their complaints, 
and then went to the owners of 
the docks as the Master went 
among the money-changers, and 
charged them to their faces with 
the crimes which they were com- 
*37 


The Return to Christ 

mitting, it is not difficult to imagine 
that many of those ignorant and 
starving men and women might 
almost have mistaken the white- 
haired Cardinal for Jesus Christ 
on the earth again. What makes 
most disciples now is what made 
them of old — the simple vision 
of Jesus and His truth. 

Do current ideals of the King¬ 
dom of God, and the methods to 
be used for its advancement show 
a return to Christ ? The answer 
surely must be in the affirmative. 
It is seen in the prominence that is 
being given to the doctrine of the 
Kingdom, which was our Lord’s 
special doctrine, — the kingdom 
of love, in which there is no par¬ 
tiality, and which is to embrace all 


The Return to Christ 


nations, classes, and conditions. It 
is seen also in the recurrence to 
the doctrine of brotherhood; in 
the constancy with which the 
Fatherly idea of God is set forth 
in pulpits, theological schools, and 
in treatises on Theology. Was 
there not something prophetic in 
the fact that the Parliament of 
Religions was opened every day by 
what was called “The Universal 
Prayer,” in which Catholic and 
Protestant, Christian and so-called 
Pagan, reverently united, saying 
“ Our Father which art in heaven, 
Thy kingdom come” ? 

The return to Christ is seen 
in the decadence of the political 
conception of the Kingdom of 
God. The identification of Church 


i39 


The Return to Christ 


and State is slowly going out 
of the Roman and the English 
churches. Cardinal Gibbons has 
said that he has no desire to see 
union of Church and State in this 
country. The Pope has kept up 
the fiction of being a prisoner in 
the Vatican, but the policy of his 
administration has moved toward 
the recognition of the Church as a 
spiritual society. In Great Britain 
the Irish Church has already been 
disestablished; the process in 
Wales and in Scotland will soon 
follow; identification of the Eng¬ 
lish Church with the State will not 
endure very much longer; and 
then some of her noblest preach¬ 
ers will have a power hitherto 
unknown, because they will ap- 
140 


The Return to Christ 


peal to men as Christ appealed to 
them. 

The return to Christ is beauti¬ 
fully illustrated in the growing 
willingness to recognize that all 
who are making the world better 
are laborers together with Him in 
His work of salvation. His dis¬ 
ciples were quite as narrow as we 
are. They could not understand 
how any who did good and yet 
who did not confess Him should 
have fellowship; but He plainly 
said that no one could do good 
work without His presence in him, 
whether he knew it or not. Every 
movement for righteousness must 
be of God. We should not ask 
what name a man has, but what 
work he does. One gives his life 


The Return to Christ 

to ameliorating the condition of 
the laboring classes, helping them 
toward an understanding of those 
truths which will truly make them 
free; and he who does that is lift¬ 
ing higher those who are in the 
image of God. I wish he would 
join the Church and acknowledge 
his indebtedness to Jesus, who is 
the fountain of all humane inspira¬ 
tions ; but though he does not do 
as I wish he would, I will not 
withhold my hand, but will extend 
it and say: “ Brother, you too 
are doing my Master's work, and 
some day when you see Him as 
He is, you will bow at His feet, 
and acknowledge Him as your 
Master." All who with neither 
pay nor applause are making it 
142 


The Return to Christ 

possible for humanity to live 
better, who are helping to do away 
with sickness and intemperance, 
who are thus making godly lives 
possible, are co-operating in the 
advancement of the Kingdom. 
Missionaries to heathen lands 
could not have been sent without 
the mariner's compass. Was Titus 
Coan a missionary of God ? and 
had he who first fashioned a com¬ 
pass no place in the Kingdom ? 
Jesus was called the cc great Phy¬ 
sician ” ; He went about healing 
diseases: are those in our time 
who are giving their lives for the 
cure and prevention of disease to 
be counted as His enemies be¬ 
cause they may not have confessed 
Him in traditional ways ? 

i43 


The Return to Christ 


There is a return to the method 
of Christ in the decline of the re¬ 
vival as a means of leading men 
to the new life. I have no word 
of criticism for revivals as such. 
Experience shows that a large pro¬ 
portion of those who are members 
of the Puritan churches became 
Christians under the influence of 
some great evangelist. Whether 
it is the best method, or whether 
it is the worst means of helping 
men to realize their relation to 
God, need not be considered. It 
was not the method of Jesus. 
The revival suggests changes 
which are worked by the storm; 
the method of Jesus in dealing 
with souls suggests the changes 
which are wrought by the sunlight. 

144 


The Return to Christ 


He called His disciples one by 
one; He worked His transforma¬ 
tions slowly; He talked with them 
about the Kingdom and the Father 
more than about their sins. He 
planted seed by dropping into the 
minds and hearts of men great 
thoughts; and then He waited 
for the seed to grow. It is not 
too much to say that the revival 
as a means of influencing men for 
righteousness has practically gone, 
and in its place are coming more 
quiet and more rational appeals. 
Whether the new method will be 
more efficient I do not know. If 
Jesus were living now He would 
do many things differently from 
what He did. New times de¬ 
mand new methods. Surely ap- 
10 i45 


The Return to Christ 

peals to reason, to the moral sense, 
to the best that is in man, rather 
than to fear, are not only more har¬ 
monious with the teachings of 
Jesus, but also more in accord 
with the spirit of the times in 
which we are living. 

There is a return to Christ in 
the administration of the mission¬ 
ary enterprise. This is being 
forced upon us by the heathen 
themselves. The Church has 
gone with its divisions, here a 
Presbyterian with his catechism, 
there a Baptist with his immer¬ 
sion, here an Episcopalian with 
his historic Episcopate, and there 
a Methodist and a Congregation¬ 
alism all teaching something pecul¬ 
iar to themselves, and in a certain 
146 


The Return to Christ 


sense rivals, until the poor heathen 
have come back saying, “ Christ 
we can understand, but what these 
strange names mean we do not 
know.” Therefore on mission 
fields there has begun that re¬ 
union of the churches of which 
so many are only talking, and 
which must in some way be real¬ 
ized everywhere before the king¬ 
dom of God can prevail. Slowly 
but surely the idea that there is 
no motive for sending mission¬ 
aries except the belief that all 
who have not heard of the his¬ 
toric Christ are lost everlastingly, 
is yielding to the far more Christ- 
like teaching which says: “ We 
come to you because you are 
God’s children and do not know 


147 


The Return to Christ 

it; because you are rich and im¬ 
agine that you are poor; because 
you are living in cellars and mines, 
when if you will only get out and 
look up you will see over your 
heads radiant skies and beckoning 
stars.” Few intelligent Christians 
now believe that the Ethnic re¬ 
ligions are altogether bad. A 
Methodist missionary to China 
voiced the common conviction 
in the Parliament of Religions 
when he said, c< Without the re¬ 
ligions that already exist, things 
would have been infinitely worse 
than they are.” More mission¬ 
aries than ever are hastening to 
foreign lands, hastening to bring 
home to the Father’s house and 
the Father’s love those who do 
148 


The Return to Christ 


not know that they have any 
Father, and have never heard of 
the inheritance which is waiting 
for them; and they are going 
because the love that was in 
Christ has taken hold of them. 

There is also in our time a 
hitherto unknown appreciation of 
the fact that all Christians are 
missionaries. Whem the doctrine 
of Sovereignty was predominant 
it was natural and logical to say 
that when God wanted the heathen 
converted He would convert them. 
But with the prevalence of a 
sweeter and more reasonable faith 
there has come a realization that 
all who have the life that was in 
Christ have ordination to holy 
service. This is manifest in many 
149 


The Return to Christ 


ways. The feeling of individual 
responsibility for the conversion 
of individuals may be no greater 
in proportion to the population 
than it was a half-century ago; 
but the consciousness of obliga¬ 
tion to do something to make the 
world and all in it better is grow¬ 
ing day by day. I question if 
quite so many are working “ to 
save men,” in the technical sense, 
as formerly, because of uncertainty 
as to what is meant by salvation ; 
but vastly more are seeking to 
promote the Kingdom of God 
than ever before. They are do¬ 
ing this by trying to make con¬ 
ditions in which it will be easy 
and natural to do right, and hard 
to do wrong; by which thought 
* 5 ° 


The Return to Christ 


shall rise toward the highest things 
as the grain rises toward the 
sun. 

What is the meaning of this 
growing sentiment of brotherhood, 
of this consciousness of mutual 
relationship and responsibility, 
which are becoming daily more 
manifest? What means the in¬ 
creasing tendency of the colleges 
and universities to recognize their 
responsibility to the people ? — the 
processions of rich and cultured 
men and women going into great 
cities in the name of Christ and 
humanity ? — the Forward Move¬ 
ment in missions, both at home 
and abroad ? — the zeal of those 
who cannot rest until they have 
* 5 * 


The Return to Christ 


done something for the Indian 
and the Negro? — the asylums 
and the children’s homes, and all 
blessed ministries which are ame¬ 
liorating human conditions and 
thus continuing the work of the 
Christ? They mean that the 
Church and the world are return¬ 
ing to the point of view and the 
methods of Jesus; and this is a 
sure sign that our Lord’s prayer 
is sometime to be answered, and 
that His Kingdom shall come and 
His will shall be done on earth as 
in heaven. If there is neglect to 
call individual men to personal 
repentance, let us not be anxious, 
for the pendulum will surely ad¬ 
just itself in time. 

J 52 


The Return to Christ 


Where the phrase “ the re¬ 
turn to Christ ” originated, I do 
not know ; but that it defines one 
of the most remarkable of all the 
movements in the Christian world 
is beyond reasonable doubt. It 
refutes those who have insisted 
that the application of the critical 
method to the Christian origins 
will undermine essential Christian¬ 
ity, because it is largely criticism 
which has made possible a more 
accurate understanding of the dis¬ 
tinctive message of our Lord. 
Coincident with this has been the 
movement toward the recognition 
of Him as the ultimate authority, 
both in ethics and religion. 

There is, probably, more un- 
i53 


The Return to Christ 

certainty about the person of 
Christ now than at any time since 
the Advent, and yet, strangely, 
there is also a wider and truer 
loyalty to His teachings. 

This “ return to Christ ” is 
evident in the more humane and 
generous theological utterances 
both of the schools and of the 
pulpits; in the simpler, but loft¬ 
ier ethical and spiritual ideals 
which are commanding the al¬ 
legiance of teachers and people ; 
in the swiftly changing social con¬ 
ditions whereby the Sermon on 
the Mount is becoming the widely 
accepted political economy; and 
in the exaltation of the Kingdom 
of God to its true place as that 
i54 


The Return to Christ 


for which Jesus lived and died. 
For the advancement of this King¬ 
dom the Church exists; and its 
glorious consummation is the final 
goal of human history. 


i55 




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